My daughter had a science project a few weeks ago and her focus was on which cell phone company had the better plan. My wife and I took her to the mall and we stopped by all of the cell-carrier kiosks and bombarded the salespeople with a barrage of questions.
One earnest salesman had my daughter so enthralled with the perks of a new phone that featured all the bells and whistles, that she was ready to abandon her current plan and swing the friendly skies of Verizon.
My lil’ munchkin begged, pleaded, cajoled and even attempted to strongarm us into allowing her to break her contract in favor of this new plan. My wife and I were mesmerized (kinda), and we love our daughter (definitely), so we entertained the notion to the extent that we searched the mall for our carrier to see what the penalties, if any, there would be for us closing down shop with them.
Wowzers! Our current cell phone carrier almost had a fit when we asked to be released from bondage! They practically begged us to stay with them. They told us what they had was better than the competition, and how fortunate we were to be with them.
When that didn’t sway us to stay, it was no more Mr. Nice Carrier. They tried the Hardball Technique. If we wanted to leave, we were gonna pay thru the nose! We had to pay for coverage until like November of 2010. That was an arm and a leg, and I’m a finger and tongue kinda guy (sorry, couldn’t resist). 
Anyway, we opted to stay with them (out of loyalty or fear, I’m not sure). The price was too high to leave them. My mind meandered (as it often does in its new-found old age) and I begin to compare this incident with romantic relationships. They are quite similar if you think about it. Thus, the concept to this very strip was born. I hope you guys (and gals) liked it. I’ll try to be funny again tomorrow. 
AND BY THE WAY: The powers-that-be have dictated that the red-haired guy on the phone will henceforth be named Lloyd Lysander. Yes, it’s a silly name, but he’s a silly guy. You’ll soon see. Thanks to all who gave a flying f… good guess to what he should be called. Your prize will be lost in the mail.
There should be a law against cell phone provider contracts. They've pissed me off -so much- that I have actually given up my cell phone.
The added benefit of course is that when I'm out, the wife can't call me— at ALL! =)
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A cell phone makes a good leash for the old ball and chain. Plus, it makes for a good argument when you have to explain why you didn't answer any of those five thousand times she called.
j/k
To break my cell phone contract would be around 200 smackaroos and our contract was almost up and then Hubby and I got to much into the gift of giving that we put our daughter on our contract which means another 2 years . Love the new character welcome Lloyd to the World of Addanac City
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Thanks, Laura (maybe I should have named him after you?). It's a hard to decision to choose a carrier, because eventually you're gonna want to switch, especially with all of the cool, new phones being really released only via certain companies. I guess the providers know that so they have to rope you into staying with them long-term.
Hahaha, that's good stuff! AND the truth!
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Hey, I try to expose the truth occasionally.
Yup, sounds about right for Cell Phone Contracts… Great comic as always
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Thank you, Andy. Cell phones are a hard business. There's no escape from them.
He should get Dennis Haysbert to do it for him. Like in that AllState ad with the Neil Sedaka song.
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Oooh….Dennis would certainly have an effect. I'd be scared to hear he was irate with me.
Rats…I am still calling him Laverne.
Tell your carrier fine. If they don't want to deal, you will just wait out your 10 months and switch then. Watch the offers come in.
Actually you have to be careful in the mall locations. Many times those are resellers and not the cell company. I bought a new phone from one and when I had a problem, the only place I could return it is at that mall.
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Good one, George! Way to stick it to those corporations!
When I was in Germany and I tried to quit from Vodafone, they kept sending me 'fantastic' offers via text, trying to lure me into staying. Yeeeah. Spamming your customers is a sure-fire way to keep them. o.0
I held out on having a real cell phone with a contract until my wife and I saw a huge deal on the iPhone. I… um… I mean my wife could help herself. Well, I guess I couldn't either. Now it's like that Queen song (or the mob) — "I wanna break free" but "they keep pulling me back in."
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Some of the salespeople told me about the resellers. They used their being associated with the company legitimately as a selling point. I previously thought that anyone under the corporate masthead was authorized to handle the company's business in its entirety.
Yeah, give it to the man day!!
Until their lawyers come calling.
Yeah, well, my provider threatened me but never sent those flowers afterwards. I'll have to see if they can give us some perks to continue sticking with them.
I would love to have an iPhone, but I'm stuck with my current company until the end of this year, and I know I'll probably get auto-renewed because I won't be so attentive to the date when it finally hits.
You have to keep an eye out for the "Evergeen Clause" in these contracts… Typically, if you don't send in written cancellation 30 days proir to your contract end, it auto renews…____Those BASTARDS!! loll!
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Seriously… it's so much like breaking up with a girlfriend, but… worse.
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Yeah, they'll send you notifications to pay your bill but they don't say a peep when your contract's almost fulfilled and you can finally be emancipated.
I had never seen anything like it. I see why some relationships stay together long after the sizzle has left. You just can't escape without tremendous loss or guilt.
Your silly
Yes there are cool , new phones but the ones I have seen are out of my budget range
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Most assuredly, I don't need any more new bills. With the latest phones, you have to pay for the extra features to make them worthwhile. Why should I pay ANOTHER internet bill, buy a gangload of ringtones, and downloadable songs & videos, JUST to keep my "new" phone up-to-date. Just gimme something I can text and take pictures with.
And maybe use to call people with.
I know my phone is now considered "ancient" I have a flip phone I can take pics ,text and I do have a specific ringtone but I only pay an extra 1.00 per month for it My daughter calls my phone a phoneasauras, here phone is more updated than mine but all the extra features on her's has been blocked
My mom has an old Nokia that she swears by. It doesn't even flip. It's gottwn so old that the numbers have worn off and she can't get any picture texts. I think the screen looks like one of those old calculator screens.
She's now considering something more modern, but I should be happy that she hasn't resorted to pulling out the old 10 pound handbag phone from back in the day.
I'm so out of touch with phone technology it's scary! I should be carrying around a telegraph in my pocket ( a cool one, though – do they make a model that 'plays the vhs' ) ?!
Try Morse Code texting. It's all the rage.
Put the seat down, fellas! Yeeeesh!
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There's a seat? I never lift that thing up.
Cell phone companies irritate the hell out of me. I'm about to switch to smoke signals
Smoking would probably help. Drinking, too.
You've truly mastered the drawing of cartoon doughnuts. Just stopped in to point that out.
You should see my eclairs, buddy! B)
You've got huge, gigantic problems if that happens!
That's no good at all. If I buy something, I wanna have return/exchange privileges with no hassle.
That must have sucked, Nef. We're lucky that we're in a good area where all of the network are rather competitive. The only problem is most of them have similarly priced plans so it doesn't really matter which one we choose. We just have to make sure the entire family is on the same network.
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LMBO! It's just like that man. It's like someone trying to get out of jail or something. I hate phone contracts, but I always find myself in one!
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I guess they're just necessary nowadays. My mom isn't on contract anymore, but she's gonna have to pay thru the nose if she wants a new, updated phone. The providers cut you a better deal if your down with them.